Panama signs agreement for exchange of financial account information
On 15 January 2018 Panama signed the CRS Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (CRS MCAA), the agreement for implementing the automatic exchange of financial account information under the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative
See MoreFinland raises tax on alcoholic beverages
Finnish taxes on alcoholic beverages increased at the beginning of 2018 after parliamentary vote last month. The Ministry of Finance confirmed that taxes on alcoholic beverages would increase by an average of 10 percent, increasing retail prices by
See MoreCanada: Deadline extends for the access of Voluntary Disclosures program
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has extended the deadline for taxpayers to access the current Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP). In order for a taxpayer to be eligible for the VDP relief outlined in Information Circular IC00-1R5, unintentional
See MoreGeorgia: Longing for repairing of sluggish VAT Refund Process
Georgia is suffering from a huge calamity on their VAT Refund System, it is arising a massive aggregation of claims towards the system. So this tells us noticeably, that there is a loophole to dig in to figure out what’s wrong with the VAT Refund
See MoreNetherlands: MoF publishes an overview of tax changes for 2018
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) provides an overview of the most important tax changes as of January 1, 2018, which were approved by parliament on 19th December 2017. It concerns changes in the field of income tax, payroll tax, gift and inheritance
See MoreOECD: Tax Talk Summarizes Progress on Tax Topics
On 15 December 2017 the OECD gave an online Tax Talk to summarize the progress made on the various ongoing tax initiatives. Harmful Tax Practices Peer review reports on the exchange of tax rulings were published in December 2017. More than 10,000
See MoreBulgaria: Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement signs for exchange of CbC reports
Bulgaria has signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) on November 17, 2017 for the exchange of country by country (CbC) reports under action 15 of the OECD’s BEPS
See MoreOECD: 2017 edition of the Model Tax Convention released
On 18 December 2017 the OECD released the 2017 edition of the Model Tax Convention. This edition incorporates measures outlined in the final reports from the action plan on base erosion and profit shifting. The new edition reflects work on BEPS
See MoreOECD: second round of peer reviews on tax dispute resolution mechanisms
On 15 December 2017 the OECD issued the second round of analyses of individual country measures on improving dispute resolution mechanisms. This second batch consists of seven peer review reports and represents more stage 1 evaluations of the
See MoreNew Zealand: A tax bill to counter tax avoidance introduces into Parliament
On 6 December 2017, a tax bill to counter tax avoidance has been introduced into New Zealand’s Parliament by multinational companies and Minister of Revenue also published its commentary on the bill. Most provisions would enter into effect July
See MoreAzerbaijan: VAT on Uber rides
Azerbaijan will apply a new VAT rate of 18% on Uber from 1 December 2017. The tax will be collected as a withholding tax on payments through bank
See MoreOECD: Peer reviews of exchange of information on tax rulings
On 4 December 2017 the OECD released the first analysis of progress by individual countries on the spontaneous exchange of information on tax rulings. This was one of the recommendations of the final report on action 5 of the project on base erosion
See MoreOECD: Further Guidance on CbC Reporting
On 30 November 2017 the Inclusive Framework released further guidance for tax administrations and multinationals in relation to the implementation of Country-by-Country (CbC) Reporting under Action 13 of the action plan on base erosion and profit
See MoreOECD: MAP Statistics for 2016
Action 14 of the action plan on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) was concerned with improving the effectiveness and timeliness of dispute resolution mechanisms. The minimum standard under action 14 requires jurisdictions to try to resolve
See MorePoland: MoF publishes a statement regarding exemption for dividends
The Polish Ministry of Finance (the MoF) released a statement that identified cases of abuse of tax exemption for dividends by making their payments using intermediaries on 3rd November 2017. As of 1 January 2016, the Polish dividend withholding tax
See MoreSingapore: OECD concludes tax incentives meet international BEPS standards
Singapore is an "associated" jurisdiction under the BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) project. Singapore’s available tax incentives were reviewed by the Forum on Harmful Tax Practices and found to be “not harmful” under the peer review
See MoreBahrain: Cabinet approves draft law regarding excise tax
The Cabinet approved a draft-law on ratifying the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) unified selective excise tax on unhealthy drinks on 16th October 2017. The Cabinet has endorsed an excise tax bill that would impose a 100% tax on tobacco products,
See MoreCanada: Federal Govt. announces cannabis tax plan
The federal government proposed a new excise duty framework that imposes duties on cannabis products on November 10, 2017. A Bill C-45 (referred to as the “Cannabis Act”), “an Act respecting cannabis and to amend the Controlled Drugs and
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